Hook



B. O. lSHAM Dec. 19, 1961 HOOK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 2, 1959 INVENTOR. BASIL O. ISHAM MKM BY Z- QM Qms Trop/v5 ys B. O. ISHAM Dec. 19, 1961 HOOK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 2, 1959 INVENTOR. BASIL O HlSHjAM i 3 g'r/VEYS United States Patent O Filed .lune 2, 1959, Ser. No. 817,681 6 Claims. (Cl. 114-5230) The present invention relates to hooking devices, and in a preferred embodiment to a device by means of which a hawser leading to a boat or amphibious aircraft may be quickly and easily attached to the ring of a mooring buo Aynumber of difficulties are inherent in the process of mooring floating objects, such as vessels, in locations where freedom of movement is limited and/or where weather or current conditions are such as to cause constant and unpredictable changes in the relative position of vessel and buoy. Under such circumstances, any boat hook which is provided with a pair of mating jaws should be so designed that no locking action can take place prematurely-that is, before the jaws of the hook are actually disposed to partially encircle the mooring ring. On the other hand, locking should be positive once the proper hook position is attained, and should preferably be accomplished without requiring the person conducting the mooring operation to exercise judgment as to the precise moment when conditions are such that the action should be initiated. Expressed differently, the jaws' of the hook should automatically be caused to encircle the mooring ring as soon as they have been brought into a correct position to do so.

Prior devices which were designed to meet these requirements were either too complex to be practicable or were unreliable in operation. The present invention accomplishes the desired objectives through the provision of a mooring device incorporating a trigger mechanism normally disposed between a pair of coacting jaws when the latter are in open position. This trigger mechanism responds to contact with an object, such as the ring of a mooring buoy, to cause the jaws to close around the object and thus complete the mooring operation without requiring the individual conducting the same to make any determination as to when thejaws are in proper position to be so closed. Furthermore, means are provided whereby the mooring device may be quickly and" easily disengaged through manual actuation of a latching mechanism which permits a resilient member within the'device to complete an opening of the jaws and thus allow the ring of the ymooring buoy to pass freely therebetween.

One object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a device by means of which a hawser leading to a boat or amphibious aircraft may be quickly and easily attached to, or disengaged from, the mooring ring of a buoy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means whereby a cable may be selectively attached to, or disengaged from, a relatively stationary object of generally tubular or cylindrical configuration which normallyl is out of direct reach of the individualconducting theV attaching or disengaging operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a boat hook having a pair of mating jaws, and a trigger mechanism having an element extending from the hookY body and positioned generally intermediate such jaws when the latter are in open position, this trigger element acting to effect a closing of the jaws when retracted into the hook body following contact with the yobject to which the bloat: hook is to be secured. i Y g Other objects andmany ofthe attendant advantages of Ythis invention will be readily appreciated as thesame' within a iiexible cable 38,

becomes better understood by reference to the following the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hook designed in accordance with the present invention, together with a detachable pole employed to hold the hook during the process of securing the latter to a desired object;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the assembly of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the hook of FIG. 1 with its jaws in open position, the top `cover plate being removed to illustrate the operation mechanism; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views similar to that of FIG. 3 but showing the hook jaws in intermediate and closed positions, respectively.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is shown a mooring device constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. This mooring device comprises a hook assembly, generally designated by the reference numeral 1t), and a pole, indicated at 12, capable of being detachafbly secured to the hook 10'. The pole 12 is particularly designed for use with the hook, and is intended for manual manipulatio-n when a mooring operation is carried out-that is, when hook 16 is 'being positioned for correction to some relatively stationary tubular or cylindrical object such as the mooring rin'g of a buoy, and where this object is located at such a distance from the individual conducting the mooring operation that the hook 10 can not conveniently be directly attachedthereto by hand.

Considering iirst the hook assembly 10, it comprises a body portion formed by two spaced-apart plates 14 and 16, respectively, between which the hook operating components are disposed. These members will hereinafter be'designated as the upperand lower plates of the assembly. At the forward end of the hook body are a pair of mating or coacting jaws 18 selectively operable between open and closed positions, as will later be discussed in connection with the hook operating mechanism shown in FIGS. 3 through 5. These jaws I8 are respectively 'pivotally supported and positioned by a pair of bolts 20, 22 passing through the body plates 14 and 16. The bolt 20 is formed with a flanged head 24 lying above the upper surface of plate 14, while bolt 22 has a correspondingly formed and positioned flanged head 26,

The bolts 20 and 22 are symmetrically located with respect to the longitudinal axis best seen in FIG. 1.

At the rearward end of the hook body is a .spool 2S pivoting on a bolt 30, the latter bein-g formed with .a

of the hook assembly, as

ianged head 32 spaced from the upper surface of plate 14 in a manner similar to that of the respective flanged heads 24 and 26 of bolts 20 and 22. Carried on the spool 28 is a rope or hawser 34, the latter encircling the spool `and then being bound, preferably by nyloncord, in a arable therefrom after the jawsvof the hook have closed n about such object. To permit such action, the pole 12 is formed with a tubular body portion 35 carrying there- Thelatter is attached, at the operators end of the bodyA portion 36, to a handle 40', and at the hook end of the body portion 36 to -a spring or other resilient element 42. f v

Secured to vthe lower end ofthe pole body. 36 is a strip `44 (FIG. '2) having a curved or folded-back?end-` portion 46 and a bifurcated-end portion 4S.' The foldedback yend-portion 46 is likewise bifurcated to pass around the bolt 30 and lie between the flanged head 32 of the bolt and the surface of plate 14. The end portion 48 is in effect pronged, with the prongs being configured as best shown in FIG. 1 so that, when they are in the posi tion illustrated, the forward outer surfaces of the member 48 contact the bolts 20 and 22 respectively but lie under the flanged heads 24 and 26 and thus between such flanged heads and the upper surface of plate 14. Expressed differently, the fianged bolt heads 24, 26 and 32 cause the strip 44 of the pole 12 to remain in contact with plate 14 of the hook assembly as long as the ends of the strip are in their illustrated positions. These positions are assumed when the pole 12 is brought into proximity with hook 16 and given a forward sliding motion with respect thereto.

Attached to the hook end of the pole body 36 by the screws 50 are a pair of side members S2 and 54, the strip 44 lying between such side members for a portion of its length, as best Seen in FIG. 2. The side member 52 carries an extending flange 56, the purpose of which will become apparent when the showings of FIGS. 3 through 5 are considered. The side members S2, 54 also pivotally support a pin or shaft 58 upon which is mounted a latch 66. The latter consists of a vertically extending (as viewed in FIG. 2) element 62 having a bent or hooked end portion 64, and a horizontally extending plate 66 disposed to partially overlie the flanged heads 24 and 26 of the bolts 20 and 22, respectively. The plate 66 has a downwardly-curved end portion 68 best seen in FIG. 2. The vertically-extending element 62 is attached to the opposite end of spring 42 from that to which the flexible cable 38 is secured. A barb 70 projects from element 62 is a direction opposite to that of hook 64.

It will now be appreciated that, when it is desired to disengage the pole 12 from the hook assembly 10, the operator exerts a pull on handle 40 to compress spring 42 and pivot the latch 60 on shaft 58. This raises the plate 66 until the curved end 68 thereof clears the hanged heads 24, 26 of bolts 20, 22. A pull on body member 36 then slips the respective ends 46, 48 of strip 44 from under the bolt heads, 24, 26, 32.

The pole and hook assembly are re-engaged by reversing the above process, the bifurcated ends of the strip 44 being slid under their associated bolt heads while the forward edge 68 of the latch 66 is raised. Subsequent release of handle 40 permits the curved tip 68 of latch 60 to again assume the position of FIGS. lV and 2 and thus preclude any relative movement betweenl the strip 44 of pole 12 and plate 14 of the hook structure.

In FIG. 3 is illustrated a detailed view of the hook assembly of FIGS. l and 2, the top cover or body plate 14 being removed to show the operating mechanisrn. The two jaws 18 pivot on thel bolts 20 and 22, respectively, as mentioned in connection withv the previous figures, and have portions extending inwardly into the hook body. These inwardly-extending jaw portions are respectively provided with pins 72, 74 which ride in angularly-disposed slots 76, 78 formed in a trigger element 88 having the general form of an inverted T, the slots 76, 78 being respectively incorporated in the arms thereof while the base of the T projects outwardly from the hook assembly to lie intermediate the jaws 18 when the latter are in open position as shown in FIG. 3. The trigger element 80 is positioned by bolts 20, 22 so that it does not move laterally (sidewise in FIG. 3) but does slide longitudinally along the axis 82 of the hook assemt bly. At the lower end of trigger element S0 is a pin 84 which contacts one curved surface 86 of a latch 88.

The latch 88 pivots on a bolt 90, and is of irregular outline. In addition tothe portion forming the curved surface 86, another portion forms a further curved surface 92, a further extension is pivotally attachedto one end of a spring or other resilient element 94 v(the remaining end of which is secured to the hook` body)and a still further extension is formed with a cam surface 96 forming part of a safety locking device to be later described. A exible lanyard or cable 98 is pivotally attached to the latch 88 by means of an adapter 100, the lanyard 98 passing through a guide 102 which also serves as a stop for the latch 88 when the latter is in the position shown in FIG. 4.

The pin 84 carried by trigger element 80 rides in a` slot 104 formed in cover plate 16. A similar slot (not shown), oppositely-disposed to slot 104, is formed in the top cover plate 14, the pin 84 being positioned by these slots for longitudinal movement along axis 82 of the hook assembly.

The safety lock shown in FIG. 3 includes a catch member 166 having a cam surface 188, which is designed for selective engagement with cam surface 96 of the latch 88. rIhe catch member 186 is pivoted at 110. It is urged toward its position of and is provided with a ring 114V which is utilized when it is desired to open the safety lock following a mooring operation by means of which the hook assembly is secured to some object such as the ring of a buoy.

In the initial phase of such a mooring operation (or at any time prior thereto) the pole 12 is brought into engagement with the hook assembly 1t) by sliding the bifurcated ends of the strip 44 under their associated bolts, as described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2. The ange 56 during this action exerts pressure upon a raised portion 116 of the catch 186 to move the latter outwardly against the pressure of spring 112 to the position shown in FIG. 3 by the broken lines, so that the` cam surfaces 96 of latch 88 and 108 of catch 166 are no longer in engagement. All of the parts are at this point in their positions as shown in FIGS. l, 2, and 3, the catch assembly 106-116 being, as above brought out, in the location shown by the broken lines.

The operator, holding the far end of pole 12, now brings the hook assembly into proximity with the objectV to which it is to be attached. This` object may be the cylindrical member 118 shown in cross section in FIG. 5. When the latter comes between the jaws 18, the operator exerts forward pressure upon the pole 12 so that the trigger is pushed inwardly by the relatively stationary cylindrical member.

This inward movement of the trigger 80 (downward in FIG. 4) causes the pin 84 to ride in the slot 104 in the cover plate 16. At the same time, it rolls over the curved surface 86 of the latch 88 to produce a rotary movement of the latter about its pivot 90, this motion being clockwise in the drawing. Such movement also compresses the spring 94.

Continued inward movement of trigger 80 causes pin 84 to pass the sharp edge portion 120 of the latch 88. When this occurs, the spring 94 is free to rotate the latch 88 counter-clockwise back to its original position, with the pin 84 now being in the location illustrated in FIG. 5 so that it lieswithin a recessed portion of the latch.

When the pin 84 moves downwardly in slot 104, the pins 72 and 74 also ride in their respective slots 76 and 78. Due to the angular formation of those slots relative to the axis 82 of the hook, the movement of the pins 72 and 74 is outwardly from their position as shown in FIG. 3 to their position as shown in FIG. 5.

This causes the jaws 18 to pivot about bolts 20 and 22 from an open to a closed position in which they completely encircle the cylindrical member 118, the trigger 80 now being completely enclosed within the hook body formed. by the cover plates 14 and 16. The pole 12 is now withdrawn from the hook assembly after pulling handle 40 to raise the end portion 68 of the latch 60, and the mooring operation is accomplished. When the pole 12 is thus withdrawn, flange 56 is no longer present to push outwardly the raised portionI 116 of the4 catch 106, and consequently spring 112 acts to again bring FIG. 3 by a spring 112,.

the cam surfaces 96 and 108 into locking engagement as shown in FIG. 5. This retains the pin 84 securely in the recessed portion of latch 88.

When it is desired to disengage the hook assembly from the object to which it is secured, such as the cylindrical member 118, the operator again brings the latch end of pole 12 into the vicinity of the hook. However, now the barb '70 is employed to hook into the ring 114, lifting the latter upwardly against the action of spring 112 to cause the cam surfaces 96-108 to again separate. In other words, the catch 106 may be actuated either by pressure of the flange 56 against raised portion 116, or by lifting of the ring 114 by being hooked on barb 70.

With the unit e-116 in open, or unlocked, condition, the operator exerts a pull on the lanyard 98. This force, acting through the adapter 100, again rotates the latch 80 clockwise about pivot 90 until it reaches the stop 102, as brought out in FIG. 4. The rotation of latch S8 causes the pin 84 to ride along the surface portion 92 of the latch and also compresses the spring 94. When the stop 102 is reached, the pin A84 has attained the position illustrated, and the jaws 18 are only partially open.

When the operator now releases the lanyard 98, spring 94 becomes effective to rotate the latch S8 counterclockwise. This brings pin 84 into contact with the curved surface 86 of the latch, and pressure of spring 94 causes the pin to roll along surface 86 until it reaches the end of the slot 104. At this point, the jaws 18 are fully open, as shown in FIG. 3, and the cylindrical member 11S can pass freely therebetween to complete the disengaging operation.

When the latch 8S is in a rotatable position other than the one illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, and the spring 112 is free to close the catch element 106, the under surface 122 of the latter may be in frictional Contact with the surface 124 of latch 88, depending upon the extent of angular rotation of the latch. The locking assembly is designed to snap into closed position as soon as the edge of one of the surfaces has passed the edge of the other, and the lock can then only be opened in one of the two ways set forth above.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specically described.

I claim:

l. A device for selectively attaching and releasing one member to and from another member of generally cylindrical configuration, said device including a housing carried by said one member, said housing incorporating a pair of outwardly-extending jaws pivoted for actuation from an open to a closed position in which they are vadapted to encircle said cylindrical member, a movable trigger element carried by said housing and disposed to lie generally intermediate said jaws when the latter are in open position, said trigger element being formed with a pair of oppositely-disposed slots therein, means, including a pair of pins respectively carried by said pair of jaws and designed to respectively ride in the slots formed in said trigger element, operative upon an inward movement of said trigger element following contact between the latter and said cylindrical member for closing said jaws, a rotatable latch disposed within said housing and rotating in response to an inward movement of said trigger element for locking said jaws in closed position, armanually-actuatable cable connected to said latch, means responsive to a selective manual actuation of said cable for rotating said latch to unlock said jaws, and a resilient member connected to said latch and operating following an unlocking of said jaws by actuation of said cable to rotate said latch in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation produced by actuation of said cable, whereby said jaws are urged to fully open position.

2. A hook assembly for selectively attaching and releasing a mooring cable to and from the mooring ring of a buoy, said hook assembly being attached to one end of said mooring cable and including a pair of coacting jaws adapted when closed to encircle said mooring ring, a trigger mechanism forming part of said hook assembly and including a trigger element normally extending between said jaws when the latter are in open position, means, including a portion of said trigger mechanism, responsive solely to an inward movement of said trigger element following contact between the latter and said mooring ring to effect a closing of said jaws, means, also including a portion of said trigger mechanism, for maintaining said jaws in closed position, said last-mentioned means further including a remotely-controlled manually-releasable latch having a cammed surface portion and disposed within said housing and conditioned upon an inward movement of said trigger element, said latch including a resilient member normally urging said latch to closed position, a remotely-controlled manually-actuatable lanyard connected to said latch and operating, upon a manually-initiated tensioning thereof, to open said latch against the action of said resilient member and cause said jaws to move toward open position, a safety lock carried by said hook assembly, said safety lock including a springbiased detent engaging the cammed surface portion of said latch when the latter is in closed position and acting to preclude an opening of the latter regardless of the degrec, of tension to' which said lanyard may be subjected, and means forming part of said safety lock for actuating said detent against the action of its biasing spring to disengage said detent from the cammed surface portion of said latch and hence condition said latch for a subsequent opening thereof. v

3. A device for selectively attaching and releasing a cable to and from a relatively stationary member of generally cylindrical configuration, said device including a housing carried on one end of said cable, said housing comprising a pair of spaced-apart plates having disposed therebetween a pair of outwardly-extending coacting jaws pivoted for actuation between open and closed positions, each of said jaws being provided with a pin the axis of which is normal to the plane of said plates, a trigger element carried by said housing and lying at least partially between said plates where it may be contacted by said cylindrical stationary member, said trigger element being movable upon contact with said cylindrical stationary member from an extended position, where it lies generally intermediate said jaws when the latter are open, to a retracted position where it lies essentially entirely between said plates, said trigger element having a pair of angularly-disposed slots within which the pins carried bysaid jaws respectively ride, said trigger element also being provided with a pin lying on the longitudinal centerline of said housing and riding in oppositely-disposed slots respectively formed in said plates, a latch carried by said housing and lying between said plates, said latch having a recessed portion, the pin of said trigger element being designed to lie in the recessed portion of said latch when said jaws are closed and outside of such recessed portion when said jaws are.

open, and a spring urging said latch against the pin of said trigger element, one surface of said latch being so configured that, upon retraction of said trigger element into said housing to close said jaws, said pin will ride along said one latch surface and actuate the latch against the action of said spring until said pin has entered the said recessed portion and said jaws are closed.

4. A device according to claim 3, `further comprising a flexible4 member attached to said latch to operate same against the action of said spring, a second surface of said latch being so congured that, when the latch is thus operated, said pin will ride along said second latch surface and said jaws will partly open, and,-when said latch is no longer operated by saidV flexible member, said spring will operate said latch and cause said pin to one latch surface to fully open said jaws.

ride along said 5. A device according to claim 4, further comprising a detent member one portion of which is designed for frictional engagement with a third surface of said latch until said pin has` entered said recess, whereupon said detent will lockingly engage said latch to prevent movement of the latter until the said locking engagement is terminated.

6. A device for selectively attaching and releasing a cable to and from a relatively stationary member of generally cylindrical configuration, said device including a housing carried on one end of said cable, said housing comprising a pair of spaced-apart plates having disposed therebetween a pair of outwardly-extending co-acting jaws pivoted for actuation between open and closed positions, each of said jaws being provided with a pin the axis of which is normal to the plane of said plates, a trigger element carried by said housing and lying at least partially between said plates where it may be contacted by said cylindrical stationary member, said trigger element being movable upon contact with said cylindrical stationary member from an extended position, where it lies generally intermediate said jaws when the latter are open, to a retracted position where it lies essentially entirely between said plates, said trigger element having a pair of angularly-disposed slots within which the pins carried by said jaws respectively ride, said trigger element also being provided with a pin lying on the longitudinal centerline of said housing and riding in oppositely-disposed slots respectively formed in said plates, a latch carried by said housing and lying between said plates, said latch having a recessed portion, the pin of said trigger element being designed to lie in the recessed portion of said latch when said jaws are closed and outside of such recessed portion when said jaws are open, a spring urging said latch against t the pin of said trigger element, one surface of said latch being so configured that, upon retraction of said trigger element into said housing to close said jaws, said pin will ride along said one latch surface and actuate the latch against the action of said spring until said pin has entered the said recessed portion and said jaws are closed, a flexible member attached to said latch to operate same against the action of said spring, a second surface of said latch being so configured that, when the latch is thus operated, said pin will ride along said second latch surface and said jaws will partly open, and, when said latch is no longer operated by said flexible member, said spring will operate said latch and cause said pin to ride along said one latch surface to fully open said jaws, a detent member one portion of which is designed for frictional engagement with a third surface of said latch until said pin has entered said recess, whereupon said detent will lockingly engage said latch to prevent movement of the latter until the said locking engagement is terminated, and a pole designed to be manually manipulated into proximity with said housing, said pole having on one end thereof a flanged portion adapted to engage said detent member to terminate the locking engagement between the later and said latch end thereby permit movement of said trigger element between its extended and retracted positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,476,734 Jellison July 19, 1949 2,595,450 Comng May 6, 1952 2,743,954 Ostlund May l, 1956 2,911,251 Osborn Nov. 3, 1959 y A .en 

